LOVELAND -- The vaunted oil and gas industry resurgence that is pouring jobs into Colorado and causing anxiety among environmentalists has been boosting Loveland's economy, according to a city official.

While the anticipated drilling hasn't yet begun in city limits, businesses and workers here are benefiting from the boom in neighboring Weld County, said Betsey Hale, Loveland's economic development director.

Of the 3,775 drilling permits approved in Colorado last year, almost half were in Weld County, which has 20,186 active wells, according to a December 2013 report from Colorado State University economist Martin Shields.

"It's not always the job on the rig or the well," Hale said. "There's a whole host of jobs other than the guy who's actually fracking."

In 2012, Leed Fabrication, a Brighton-based oil field equipment manufacturer, moved into this building at 5100 N. Boyd Lake Ave. in northeast Loveland, shown Wednesday, March 19, 2014. It added 36,000 square feet to the 22,000-square-foot facility and is just about to finish another 33,000-square-foot addition.
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Jenny Sparks
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The largest single example of a Loveland business riding the industry wave is Leed Fabrication, a Brighton-based manufacturer that moved part of its operation to Loveland two years ago and has been expanding and hiring ever since.

Leed employs about 90 workers at its facility at 5100 N. Boyd Lake Ave. — which it is quadrupling in size — and plans to boost that number to 145 by the end of April, according to Gail Meisinger, the company's human resources director.

"We're still in big hiring mode right now," she said. Leed is hoping to hire 30 to 35 general laborers and 40 welders in the coming months, she said.

Leed builds large tank-shaped separators that are used to separate the oil, gas and water that come out of oil wells.

Oil and Gas Jobs Quantified

Last year, Hale counted up the number of jobs in Loveland directly tied to oil and gas in 2012.

She said 52 companies in Loveland employed 497 people who worked directly in the industry. The companies paid $37.4 million in gross wages, with an average salary of $75,232, according to Hale.

In comparison, the 2,774 companies with a Loveland presence employed 35,077 people in 2012, with an average wage of $41,485, she said.

Most of the jobs in Loveland, however, are at businesses that work in support of the energy companies, Hale said.

The beneficiaries of that work are attorneys who handle oil and gas leasing, accountants, truck drivers, construction and landscape workers, engineers, architects, land surveyors and consultants, she said.

"A lot of people who were out of work during the recession are now working because of oil and gas, and energy in general," Hale said.

Another clear impact is on the city's hospitality sector, she said.

"In 2013, our hotels had the highest occupancy rates — either first or second — in the state of Colorado every month," Hale said.

Five of the city's 12 largest hotels "felt that oil and gas was a predominant driver," she said.

The city with the highest hotel occupancy rate last year was Greeley, she said.

Often, workers in the oil fields don't stay in an area for a full year, so they can't sign a yearlong lease for an apartment, Hale said. Plus, Loveland's apartment vacancy rate is extremely tight.

Retail Benefits

Those workers shop in Loveland, too.

"These are high-quality jobs that have high average wages," Hale said, "and these people have to spend their money somewhere."

She added that employment in the energy field goes beyond oil and gas.

"People who work at Vestas (wind turbine blade factory in Windsor) live in Loveland, and they shop in Loveland," she said, and CSU conducts research in renewable energy.

Anadarko Petroleum, which has leased about 2,400 acres on the eastern edge of Loveland for possible oil and gas extraction, appears to be preparing to start drilling, according to Nikki Garshelis, business services coordinator with the city's Development Services Department.

"We think Anadarko will be filing an application with us next month," she said.

The attempt of a Loveland organization to put a moratorium on hydraulic fracturing on the ballot remains tied up in court over questions of whether the petitions submitted last fall fulfilled the conditions required to place an issue on the ballot.

Protect Our Loveland is pushing for a special election in which voters can decide whether to impose a two-year moratorium on fracking.

Loveland company adds trucking school and oil-and-gas training

LOVELAND -- A Loveland occupational school that has been providing training to businesses since 2009 has added a new offering, in part because of the oil and gas industry's strength in the area.

Peak Technical Institute has started a truck-driving program at its office at 5609 Goldco Drive near the Fort Collins-Loveland Municipal Airport.

Peak was created last year when Loveland's Front Range Training was purchased by Tennessee-based Vanquish Worldwide. Front Range Training specializes in training in unexploded-ordnance removal and police SWAT team tactics.

On March 17, sister company Peak Technical Institute started its three-week trucker-training program.

"I think we're one of the few truck-driving companies that are training our drivers with the gas and oil safety standards in mind," said Cindy Cooper, co-founder of Front Range Training with her husband, Kevin Cooper, and now executive director of PTI.

The company is teaming with Fort Collins' Anfeald LLC, an occupational safety and health company, to provide a two-day training in oil and gas safety awareness.

The classroom training for aspiring truck drivers takes place in Loveland, and the behind-the-wheel practice starts on the old runway at the former Downtown Fort Collins Airport, Cooper said.

PTI has relationships with several trucking companies, she said. "We have some who have told us flat out that they will hire every single student that we train."

The company's lead driving instructor, Steven Murdock, worked in the oil and gas industry for several years, Cooper said.

"We'll be hiring more instructors," Cooper added. "We've hired four people already in the last month, and we're still looking for more people to hire as instructors."

Having the oil-and-gas component in their training will give PTI's graduates "the option of not having to do over-the-road trucking. They can work right here during the day and be home at night," she said.

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